


Director Sharpe

by psychobubuzuke



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: F/F, Time Travel, some death?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-09-17 15:14:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16976988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/psychobubuzuke/pseuds/psychobubuzuke
Summary: After a tragedy, Ava discovers the benefits of being a Time Bureau Director.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This ship has me smiling, laughing, cringing and swooning every week since Season 4 started.  
> I love them and just wanted to write something in a spur of the moment.  
> All mistakes are mine, tell me what I did wrong. But please be gentle. Cheers~

“Director Sharpe. This is it. We are just one more step to complete Project Hades. We cannot let anyone stop us. Once we have this, we would be the strongest country in the world.” Hank Heywood paused. “No. In the entire timeline, universe. Ever.”

Trying to hold back the nausea and trepidation she felt deep within, Ava Sharpe willed herself to plaster a semblance of excitement on her face. Wishing he believe she shared his vision and enthusiasm in this self-indulged sense of patriotism. “I will make sure no one is there to stop us.”

“Yes. I know you will. Nate has been such a disappointment.” He frowned, unable to accept his son’s resistance but shrugged it off as quickly. Nate always fell short when it mattered. It was not a big surprise.

Things were looking good for the bureau. They had just one upped the Legends, who were bent on obstructing them.

“The legends’ captain is gone, so they won’t be of much trouble now. They will probably be too busy licking their wounds. By the time they get their heads back in the game, we would have completed our mission, and we would be unstoppable.”

Ava had to duck her head down, knowing she would be unable to conceal her anguish from him.

“I know you see the importance of this. That’s why we have placed you in such an important role. Do not fail us.” Ava Sharpe was the best agent of the time bureau. He had read her file.

“Yes, of course, sir.” Ava nodded solemnly. The legends had decided to take revenge for their captain by releasing all the fugitives and burning the place down. Zari had personally asked her to stall Hank till they could get everybody to somewhere safe.

Ava could not remember her response in her state of numbness and pain. But Zari probably was satisfied with her answer as the plan was a go apparently. But it did not matter. Project Hades was approved by the government. There was no way they were going to run from this. Even the legends were going to have their limits.

And frankly speaking, Ava ran out of fucks to give.

She has only one aim in mind.

Being the Time Bureau Director had to have some benefits and Rip always made sure he was the exception.

Well, thank goodness, that comes in handy now, Ava thought.

She had done the homework. Going through all of Rip’s stuff had uncovered some interesting theories and experiments regarding time travel and changing history. Some worked, some did not. Unfortunately, she had no time to go for tried-and-tested.

“Alright. I must head back to give the senators and generals an update on the mission. Make sure no one interferes.”

When Hank left, Ava let out a deep sigh. She had to do it now. She hoped Sara would understand why she had to do it. She hoped that whatever she has left for Sara would be enough. She hoped…

 

* * *

 

April 8, 2016

“Hi.” Laurel managed tiredly.

“Hey yourself” Thea tried to be cheerful but could not stopped the tears that formed.

“Darhk—“

”Don’t worry about him.” Felicity stopped her, “just worry about getting better, ok?”

“Not exactly how I wanted my last night to go.”

Before anyone could respond, they saw a bright light appear that formed into a doorway, and out stepped a tall blonde in a sharp suit.

“Good evening everyone. My name is Ava Sharpe.” She introduced herself coolly, taking in their defensive postures. “I am here to save Sara Lance’s sister.”

She knew about this bunch. Skeptical lot. They would never accept her explanation without a long detailed argument and much required evidence, which she could not produce in short notice. Therefore, she had brought countermeasures for such a situation.

Immediately whipping out a stun gun created from the future, she managed to stop everyone in their tracks.

She walked to the bedside and took a good look at the patient. There was fear in her eyes, but she stared back at Ava defiantly.

Ava definitely could see the resemblance in the family.

She smiled fondly at the thought of Sara.

“Miss Lance, this is an anticoagulant. This will buy you some time before the embolism that is going to kill you reaches your heart.” She explained as she injected the medication into one of the tubes connected to Laurel’s body.

“I am going to press the call button for the emergency response team now.” She looked to Laurel to see if she had anything else to say.

Laurel just looked stunned.

Ava thought of all the possibilities Sara will have, now that Laurel will survive this. How she will have someone to come home to now. How –

Ava took a deep breath and stopped that train of thought. She debated with herself for a quick second before leaning down to whisper at Laurel’s ear.

“Take care of her. And please…tell her that I love her.”

Ava was gone by the time the emergency team arrived and Laurel’s vital signs started to crash.

 

* * *

 

May 17, 2018

Quentin Lance stared at Oliver’s back as he exited the room. He was tired. He knew his time was up soon. He just wanted to hold out till Sara came. He knows she will come. He just needed a little more time.

Suddenly, a bright light flashed across the front of his bed and a doorway opened to reveal a tall blonde stepping out. She was a wearing a suit, a little dishevelled and out of breath, but still looked sharp and serious.

“How…can I help you?”

“I don’t think you can Mr Lance. But I can help you.” Seeing that no one was in the room as her, she breathed out a sigh and relaxed. “I am Ava Sharpe. I am a friend of Sara’s.” She rounded the bed and pulled out a syringe.

“You have lost too much blood. You will start to seize very soon and your brain will be too deprived of oxygen and you will not survive that. This medication,” she held up the syringe,” will prevent all that.”

“And where is that from?” Quentin replied wearily. He did not trust her fully, but he was too weak to do anything.

Ava thought of how to respond, “Something from the future?” But enough of the chit-chat, the time warp will reach this timeline soon.

She pushed the medication into one of his IV tubes.

As an afterthought, she held his hand in hers and spoke with the utmost sincerity, “You should be very proud of your daughter, Sir. She is a great captain,” she ducked her head down, “And one helluva woman.”

The awe and depth of emotion in her tone caught Quentin Lance’s attention. He wanted to take a good look at this woman in front of him telling him how wonderful his youngest daughter is. But his consciousness was starting to fade away…

“And I love her. Very much…”

 

* * *

 

Somewhere in time.

“NO!” Rip Hunter waved all the paper and files on his desk onto the floor. “No! They were supposed to be Advanced! Why do they keep dying!!” Rip was just about the tear his hair out when he heard the familiar sound of a time portal opening.

“Ava?”

“Hi Rip.” Ava looked around his office with disdain.

It was a mess.

Papers strewn everywhere, some shirts hanging on a small couch and… she suspected some leftovers that were probably more than a days old on the small table. “Busy?”

“How? What?” Rip tried to make sense of the woman standing in front of him.

“I do not have much time. But since I’m breaking every rule now, I just wanted to stop by and get this off my chest.”

Now, _that_ got Rip’s attention. “Breaking rules? What rule?”

“Oh no need to get all uptight about it. Nothing you have not done before. I was very sure to follow your instructions.” Ava shrugged nonchalantly. “But first –“

She struck out and caught Rip in the jaw with a firm right hook.

“Whew.” Ava looked down at Rip curled into a ball.

Satisfied, she adjusted her suit and cuffs, “Stop being a jerk. The clones may not be me, but they could be me…if you know what I mean. And you need to stop this time bureau thing. You don’t need them to stop Mallus. You already have a team that can do that. And to make things easier, I have removed the option of a powerful vassal for Mallus in future. So please. Think about this and for once, do not let your ego and obsession get the better of you. Do you really think setting up a big organization tied down by bureaucracy is the best solution for this Mallus problem? Haven’t your time as a time master taught you better?”

“Rip. Trust your team.”

“How do you know about them?”

“Rip. Don’t be an ass.”

 

* * *

 

Year 2213

Ava Sharpe sat on a bench nursing a cup of coffee, while she stared at all the Avas walking the streets.

It took some time getting adjusted to seeing her face everywhere. Being used in different ways.

Yes, used.

She has come to terms with her origin. In fact, when she realized her existence had not been erased, she decided to come to 2213. When she found everything more as less the same as before, she had spent quite some time researching about herself. Among other things...

She did not spend much time thinking about what changed or did not change for the timeline to progress similar to the previous one. It would bring back too much unnecessary hope.

And unnecessary pain.

So now here she is.

Alone.

Lost.

And staring at multiple versions of herself roaming the streets.

She felt someone sit down beside her, but she paid no attention.

“You are one difficult woman to find.”

Ava’s whole body tensed. Her heart began racing. Her ears were pounding with blood rushing to her head…

It couldn’t be…

“I thought I would _definitely_ know the woman who broke the rule of all time to save my sister, my father,… _me_. Imagine my surprise when I was proven wrong.”

Ava clenched her jaw and willed herself not to turn to the woman sitting beside her.

She knew changing so many events in Sara’s life would cause this. They would never have met. But to be reminded that her love had forgotten her…Would not even have known her…It still hurt too much.

“Turns out she made it so that we would never have met.” Sara scoffed. “But she forgot, we have a super AI designed from the ultimate time travellers.” She turned to look at Ava. “Gideon has records of EVERYTHING.”

Ava blinked. Well…. She kinda _did_ forget about Gideon…

“You foolish,” Sara stood and walked in front of Ava, “selfish,” She gently cradled Ava’s head in both her hands and tilted her upwards to face her, “reckless,” she wiped at the tears that escaped the corner of her eyes, “crazily smart and brave woman that I love.” Sara pulled her in for a tight embrace.

Ava might have winced at the strength but it was the least of her concerns right now.

“How could you?”

“Sara, you died.”

“Well… ok…that makes us even then.” Sara released her to look her in the eyes. “I love you Ava Sharpe. You are not getting rid of me that easily.”

Ava could not hold back the tears anymore, as the hole in her heart was filled with so much warmth radiating from the woman in her arms.

“Of course Miss Lance. I would wish for nothing more.”


	2. 2. Captain Lance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sara's side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the replies and the kudos! Currently working on Sara's side of the story. Hope you like it. :)

May 2016

Sara and the other legends stared at each other wondering what their next step would be. Rip had just “returned” them to their original timeline.

Abandoned more like it.

“I never liked that guy.” Mick Rory was pissed as hell. It was one thing to not want to join a bunch of ragtag band of goody two shoes. It was another thing to be dropped out like garbage.

“So what are we going to do now?” Ray Palmer looked around.

Sara rolled her eyes. She did not know her next step, but at least she knew who she wanted to find right now.

“Well, see you guys around.”

 

Three months was probably quite a short stint for the great adventure she told laurel she would be taking. But she had so many stories she could not wait to tell her sister she did not really mind the possible admonishing she would get. She knew this time Laurel would probably be at the Arrowcave, so she made her way there.

She was not expecting the small party at their headquarters.

Everyone turned to look at her. They were definitely not expecting her.

“Hey guys.” Sara forced a smile. While she did want a grand entrance, their stares were just a tad bit more than the usual surprise.

This was awkward. 

Laurel was the first to recover and approach her, and when she came full view of Sara, her weakened gait was definitely noticed.

“What happened?” Sara hurriedly walked towards her sister to assist her to the nearest chair.

“Well the black canary got arrowed by Damian Darhk and had to spend the last few months in the hospital.” Felicity was ecstatic that Sara was back, she could not help joking about their latest mishap.

“WHAT?” Sara, however, did not appreciate the humor.

“I’m fine now.” Laurel grabbed both Sara’s hands to stop her from fussing over her. “Actually, I have you to thank for that.”

Sara was confused. “What?” She was seriously starting to think Rip had returned her to the wrong timeline. She could not have missed THAT much in just 3 months.

“Or maybe, more specifically, Ava?” Laurel prodded tentatively. But Sara’s face gave her the answer she already suspected. “And… you don’t know who she is?”

“Am I supposed to?”

“Well, she just appeared out of nowhere and announced she was going to save Laurel and proceeded to stun everyone and inject Laurel with something – “ Thea excitedly jumped in.

“She WHAT?” Sara’s feelings were swaying crazily between annoyance at this Ava chick and impressed that she one-upped the whole arrow team.

“Apparently a clot formed when the doctors were performing surgery on Laurel from Darhk’s injury. She injected an anticoagulant that helped buy Laurel some time and called the emergency team to tend to her before any real damage could be done.” Felicity said.

“According to the doctors,” Oliver finally spoke up, “every second counts for such cases. So…”

“So, she really did save my life.” Laurel smiled at Sara, trying to calm her down. “And the doctors just cleared me. I just need to do a few more physiotherapies and I’m all good. Sara I’m ok.”

Sara just stared at Laurel, overwhelmed by all the information she had just gotten. She decided to focus on what was important for now. “You’re ok. You are ok.”

“Yes Sara. Laurel’s fine. Now come join us! We’ve missed you.” Diggle clapped her on the back and directed her towards the alcohol.

Laurel smiled fondly at Sara’s back, as she debated within herself if she should let Sara know what Ava had whispered to her …

Sara clearly did not recognize this woman…

Maybe she had heard wrong?

 

* * *

 

Northern France, 1916

“Use the spear, Sara!” Amaya yelled.

“I can’t! There’s too much darkness in me!”

“Use the spear. I believe in you, Sara.” Rip urged gently before getting knocked out by Thawne.

Very soon, Nate and Ray were taken out and Sara had no other choice.

She closed her eyes and focused on the spears energy…

 

She was lying on a soft bed. Someone was lying right next to her, arms wrapped around her. She felt warm and comfortable and…contented.

Safe.

She breathed in and the air was familiar and enticing.

“You should stay. The legends will be fine.” Hearing the voice that came from the woman lying next to her caused a pang in her heart. “Besides, I was thinking that you and the legends would be spending more time here, in 2018. Mostly, you know…you…with me.” She could even hear her wince, “In this apartment?”

She opened her eyes but everything was a blur. She could hardly make out the woman in front of her, other than her blond hair.

“Ava Sharpe!” Like someone trapped in a third dimension, she felt her body move to press on top of her. She realised she was an outsider viewing from the inside…

”Are you trying to make a kept woman out of me?” She heard herself tease. But it was unmistakable, the happiness that bloomed in her chest from hearing those words.

Sara Lance did not understand what the spear had done. But she wanted to cry with the knowledge that somewhere out there, there was a chance she could be this happy.

And who is this Ava Sharpe woman again?

“What? No!” The woman in front of her was squirming. It was cute. “I wouldn’t dare. Just saying that, since you’ve fixed all the anachronisms, you wouldn’t… mind being kept…just part of the time.” Ava reached up to tuck her hair behind her ear, and Sara leaned into the touch.

“It’ll be fun to come home to you.”

Sara stared down hard at the woman under her. She wanted…no, _needed_ to see what this woman looked like. But all she could get were blue eyes and blonde hair.

That was not enough.

She needed to see the face of this person who could make her feel so much. The intensity of emotions that sparked within her with those words was staggering. This woman, who dared to lay out her heart in front of Sara Lance, despite all that Sara had done…

Surely she would have known Sara’s history…

But the reality around her soon fades away and she was soon reminded of her mission.

She knew she had only one chance and she had to take it. So regretfully, she puts away the fantasy of an alternate reality to the back of her mind…

 

* * *

 

Los Angeles, 2017

The legends got out of their time ship and hurried to the streets. The dinosaurs and various architecture that did not belong in Los Angeles were troubling but mixed together, they were quite a sight.

Nate, Mick and Ray were enjoying the crazy.

Sara, Stein and Jax were going crazy.

“We broke time!”

“You! Broke time.”

“Guys?” Ray tried to bring their attention to the T-Rex running towards them. “Amaya!”

Before Amaya could respond, a flash appeared and the T-Rex disappeared into a screen door right in front of them.

“Wha—?”

“Well, you really have buggered everything up this time.” Behind them, Rip Hunter walked through a similar flashing screen door and greeted them.  He sported a nice hairdo, with shades and a sharp blue suit. “Doesn’t matter. As you can see, my agents are already hard at work dealing with these anachronisms.” Knowing the Legends, he proceeded to explain what was happening and that he had spent his past 5 years building this organization known as the Time Bureau. And since the Time Bureau had things under control, the Legends would no longer be required.

“You can’t just disband us like that.”

“Oh I can.”

Rip was about to start on his jurisdiction over them when they heard a loud scream.

All eyes turned to the source, and they saw those time portals were not appearing as precise as they were before. Some missed their targets and the dinosaurs ended up charging into the crowd.

“You were saying?” Sara deadpanned. Without waiting for his response, she turned to her teammates and started barking out orders for them to assist in capturing the dinosaurs.

 

After Los Angeles was saved, Rip reluctantly brought them back to the Time Bureau field office to help them catch up to speed.

“Nice digs.” Mick grunted. The rest of the guys mumbled their agreement.

But Sara had a feeling of displacement. Something did not feel right.

“This is Agent Green. He oversees the operations here.” Rip introduced them to a bespectacled nerdy man with a big grin.

“The Legends! I have heard so much about you! I can’t believe I get to see the people who screwed up time so badly!”

His excitement and glee was so genuine and obvious that Sara could not doubt that he meant otherwise. But the feeling that this was all wrong grew stronger.

“Right…Maybe you can explain what just happened?” Rip was partly embarrassed and frustrated that his Time Bureau was not functioning as well as he had planned.

Sara watched Agent Green fumble over an explanation for a second before letting her eyes roam around the room.

She caught herself searching. But for what?

“Urgh! Damn it.” Rip gave up on Agent Green and stormed past Sara, but not before Sara caught him muttering under his breath, “I should not have listened to Ava…”

Sara’s body moved before her mind processed that information.

“Yes, Captain Lance?”

Sara’s frown deepened. She thought that name had a different ring to it... Not like this.

“Sara?” Rip’s voice cut through her thoughts. “Do you mind?” He gestured to the hand that Sara caught in an iron grip.

“Who is Ava?” Sara looked up at Rip.

She did not miss the shock and flustered expression that glanced past his face before it was schooled into the usual all-knowing shifty look.

“You do not have clearance to that information.”

“What does that even mean? Is _Ava_ classified information?” This is ridiculous.

“Unfortunately Captain Lance, it is.” Rip’s face held a tinge of arrogance and smugness, now that he knew he had something Sara wanted.

Sara was frustrated and confused and Rip’s avoidance was making her feel on edge even more.

Rip took a minute to take in this Sara Lance in front of him. After a little deliberation, he relented, “As it turns out, we would be needing the Legends’ help in dealing with something that we have uncovered. In exchange for that help, I might be able to reveal something in the database of your choice.”

Sara narrowed her eyes at him. She did not like it when someone plays games with her. She may be getting extremely frustrated over how little bits and pieces of information of this Ava woman were available, but she was not that desperate to play into Rip’s hands.

Plus she was really annoyed at Rip’s arrogance.

It made her feel like her teen self again. That feeling of not being enough and being expected of not being enough was grating.

“Well. I will sleep on that.” She turned to the rest of the legends and called for them to return to their ship. “I’ll be seeing you around.”

 

 

“Gideon!”

“Welcome back, Captain Lance.”

Sara sat on her usual chair with a glass of whisky in her hands. She knew she was going to need it for what she is going to ask later.

“Tell me about Ava Sharpe.”

When Gideon did not respond, Sara called out again, “Gideon?”

“Captain Lance…I’m afraid I would need more time to process some information to answer your question.”

That’s a first.

“Why?” Sara downed all the contents in her glass. She stopped short of throwing the glass into the wall.

“It appears that we are currently existing in an altered timeline. As there were very few changes, my system was not alerted earlier.”

“Changes?” Sara’s heart started to race. “Like what?”

Maybe she needs the whole bottle of whisky and not a glass…

“The woman called Ava Sharpe does not exist in this current period. She, however had appeared on two occasions in the past.”

“She saved Laurel…” Sara whispered.

“And she made a quick appearance in 2012.”

“Let me guess…something to do with Rip and his Time Bureau.”

“Well, given that Miss Ava Sharpe was the Time Bureau director in the original timeline, I would second that guess.”

“The director? I thought Rip was the director?”

“Unfortunately, that is all I can say right now. Certain events have not come into play and revealing them would give you prior knowledge to your immediate future which may alter the current timeline.”

Sara took a deep breath and tried to calm her growing frustrations. When that did not work she proceeded to take a swig from the bottle.

“Director… Sharpe?” Sara tested the sound of it.

Something settled in her chest.

Sara knew this was the first thing that felt right since this day began. And yet, the black hole of emptiness in her just seemed to widen at the same time.

The empty glass ended up meeting its fate on the wall…


	3. 3. Captain Lance (Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 2 of Sara's side

The legends ended up helping Rip resolve various time anachronisms. Because as it turns out, the Time Bureau were not as effective as Rip claimed. More often than not, they made the situation worse, which ended up triggering Gideon’s system, and the Legends ended up swooping in to save their asses.

And that made Sara all the more weirded out.

Sure. They always end up killing the big bad and saving the day. But that was reserved for the big bad. Which they totally did by the way. For all the hype Rip gave him, this Mallus guy ended up taking over an angsty loser cooped up in the basement of his mother’s house.

The legends were not the ones clearing other people’s mess. They were the ones _creating_ the mess for _others_ to clear.

Everything was so wrong!

“Rip, I swear to god you’d better tell me what the hell is going on.”    

“What are you talking about?” Rip tried to squeeze out of her grip.

“Ava!” Sara rolled her eyes. _Duh!_ “Start talking!”

“Ok! Ok! She just appeared one day telling me to stop – “ Realising what he was about to admit, Rip paused, but relented again when he really thought his arm was about to break. “Ava is a clone. I have been taking a few of them from the future to create the perfect agent for my time bureau. I… I wasn’t successful. They kept dying.”

Sara was still processing the idea of a clone when she heard the word “dying” and she really thought she heard her heart stop for a moment.

“Owww Owww! Sara! I stopped! She came to tell me to stop. And told me that the Time Bureau was not going to work. That I needed to trust that the legends will handle Mallus.”

“But you didn’t listen to her. The shitty time bureau still exists.” Sara scrutinized his reaction, “There’s more isn’t there?”

“She did say she had removed Mallus’s option of a powerful vassal. It’s highly possible that it’s the reason Mallus was severely weakened when we faced him. Anyway, after all this, I am taking steps to disband the Time Bureau. She was correct.”

“Do you know where she is?” Sara asked softly, almost afraid of hearing the answer.

“Honestly, I do not know.” Rip hesitated, “But…when I did go back to Year 2213 to get replacements for the clones, I no longer could. They were no longer in production.”

Production…

Sara winced at the word. She felt a surge of protectiveness for this Ava she has yet to meet, and she _really_ wanted to punch Rip.

“Sara!” Ray’s urgent voice sounded over their coms, interrupting their conversation.

“What?”

“Gideon received an urgent call from your sister. Quentin has been shot and is at the hospital right now.”

 

 

 

Sara rushed through the hospital corridors and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Laurel with Felicity and the rest outside Quentin’s room.

“Laurel!”

“Sara!” Laurel enveloped her in a tight hug. “He’s ok. He lost a lot of blood but the doctors managed to put him back together. He is sleeping now.”

“Thank god!”

They waited together by Quentin’s side until he was awake again.

“Hey…” Quentin smiled at the sight of his two daughters hovering over him. The drugs were still clouding his mind. he could not remember much of his situation, so he said the first thing that came to his mind, which was the last thing he saw since he lost consciousness, “Where’s Ava?”

Sara thought she heard wrongly. “Did you just ask for Ava?”

This girl is just everywhere, isn’t she?

“Yeah… She appeared and injected something into me, saying she’s gonna save me.” Quentin blinked, silently assessing his own body. “Well, I guess she did.” He grinned at his daughters.

“Ava again?” Laurel raised an eyebrow.

“Sara, if your girlfriend is going to pop up out of nowhere and save my life, I really think you should stop hiding her and invite her over for dinner one day.”

“Girlfriend?” Sara gaped.

“She did say she loved you…very much…” Quentin frowned. He was quite sure he heard those words before fading into darkness.

Seeing her sister’s frown, Laurel suspected something else was going on.

“She told me to take care of you when she saved me. She loved you.” Laurel added softly, not wanting to add onto her sister’s obvious emotional turmoil, but thought she needed to know. “Is she in trouble?”

“I don’t know…” Sara’s voice quivered. She really did not know and this helplessness was causing an unknown panic to stir within her. “But I am going to find out.”

 

 

 

“Gideon. Please. Please tell me what on earth is going on. Fuck the timeline. It's already changed. I need to know!”

“Very well, Captain Lance.”

Gideon proceeded to inform her of all the events of the original timeline and the events that Ava Sharpe had changed in the past and those in the near future that affected the timeline. And it appeared, all of the changes only served to affect her. And because she had minimal contact with people in the world, most events occurred as they should in the original timeline. Except for the demise of the Time Bureau, instead of her.

Sara collapsed into her seat.

Ava Sharpe loved her. And she was loved in return. But she does not remember any of it.

_Well…There's only one way to rectify it._

Sara jumped out of her seat.

 

 

 

“Ray, I need your help.”

“Sara?” Ray looked up from his latest experiment, surprised to see Sara in his lab. “Sure! How can I help?”

“Do you remember that time when Ethan Thawne got hold of the spear of destiny and turned you into a toilet cleaner?”

“Of course! He turned you into one of his mean lackeys!” Ray winced just at the memory of being on opposite sides with Sara.

“Yup. And do you remember that gun you used on us to make us remember our original selves?”

“Of course I do! It was one of my favourite inventions! I’m still amazed how that version of myself came up with such a brilliant invention with so little resources –“

“Ok, I agree it’s a wonderful invention. Now, where is it?”

 

Sara did not know what to expect by gaining the memories of herself in the original timeline. She certainly expected the exploding headache and disorientation that came with it. Maybe even the nausea and vertigo.

She did not expect her heart to ache so much.

“Sara! Sara, are you okay?” Ray crouched down next to her, approaching her curled up form on the floor carefully. “Are you… Are you crying?”

Ray was very scared.

And worried.

“Sara?”

“I’m…” Sara sniffed. “I’m fine. Really Ray.” She wiped away the tears that escaped. “I just… the memories… It was just too much all at once.”

Ava…

_What was she thinking!_

Sara went through everything that happened and sorted through the differences between the original timeline and the current one.

It was quite clear that the objective of Ava’s crusade was to not have the Time Bureau established or not be in a position of power where they could become an instrument to the whims of power hungry government officials.

That was what got Sara killed.

And Ava Sharpe tore it all down.

_Dramatic jerk…_

But the Ava Sharpe that she knew only existed because Rip Hunter thought her necessary. If he had not brought in Agent Sharpe, there would no “girlfriend-of-Sara-Lance” Ava Sharpe…

Sara suddenly found her world spinning as it got harder to breathe…

Ava…

_What have you done?_ _How could you…_

Ava’s appearance to save Laurel and Quentin made so much sense now…

Sara’s vision blurred with welled up tears and she did not bother to reassure Ray this time. She made her way to her room and crawled into her bed. She did not know how to make sense of all this and the likely possibility that the one person who saved her life may have given up hers in return.

 

 

Quentin woke up with a start.

He was already off most of the pain medicines, but he kept reliving those moments where he got shot. He knew he would probably need some therapy soon.

It was then that he realised his youngest daughter sitting in the chair next to his bed.

Eyes red and looking like her world just shattered.

“Sara.” His voice was soft as his heart broke at seeing his daughter like that.

Small, lost, and hurting.

“What happened?”

“Daddy… I…” Sara could not bring herself to say it. “I think I lost her.”

“Who? Sara, who are we talking about?”

“Ava.” Sara’s voice broke at just saying her name.

Quentin reached out to take Sara’s hand. “Tell me about her.”

And Sara did.

She poured out everything.

How she originally met Ava. How they hated each other’s guts. How Ava unexpectedly offered an olive branch in those dark times. How they grew to respect each other. How they grew to love the other.

How Sara had to go and destroy everything by dying.

How Ava proceeded to…change everything. Including erasing her existence.

“Wow.” Quentin blinked. That was… a lot. All the time travel and original timeline, altered timeline mumbo-jumbo made his head hurt. He was definitely in no state to offer any advice, but the detective in him quickly analysed some facts and became curious.

“Why do you think you have lost her? You said she is from the future. A very distant future. Can’t you just go get her?”

“Dad you don’t understand! Ava… My Ava… would not be…” Sara swallowed, “after all that has changed.”

“Well, if there is any chance at all, are you not going to search for her?” Quentin knew Sara. Even if she was lost right now, afraid of the possibility that everything was hopeless, she just needed some time to get it together before she did the right thing.

And he knew she would when she looked into his eyes with fierce determination.

 

“I will not stop till I find her.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think there'll be an epilogue...


	4. 4. Ava and Sara

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Epilogue

“So how did you find me?”

Ava asked while lazily playing with Sara’s hair.

Sara was currently sprawled on top of her, head to her chest, listening to the sound of her heartbeat.

It was a comforting assurance that everything was real. That this was not a fabrication of her imagination of some alternate reality or timeline.

Ava was with her. Here and now.

When both of them finally calmed down on the street, Ava brought Sara back to her apartment. And of course, being Ava, it _had_ to be a lavish place that looked expensive even for a period as futuristic as this one. Inwardly rolling her eyes at Ava’s expensive tastes, she nonetheless appreciated it immensely when she was introduced to the bedroom and subsequently the _bed_.

Getting reacquainted with every inch of Ava’s body was exhilarating and felt like coming home at the same time. Yet, only now, quietly lying here with Ava, did Sara allow herself to feel like things were alright now.

She was where she should be.

But hearing the question made the not so distant memories stir panic again. Ava seemed to feel that and responded silently by holding her tighter.

“I didn’t know where to start.” Sara began in a whisper. “I had to tell everyone what had happened. I needed their help. They told me to start finding Nora.” Sara lifted her head to look at Ava, “I did. Imagine my surprise at the change I found.” Sara ducked down to steal a kiss, her heart swelling ever more at just the remembrance of the lengths Ava went through to pull this off. “I can’t believe you dared to do that.”

Ava smiled sadly, running her hand through Sara’s mussed hair, “Sara, I think we are way past what I dare or dare not do. Plus, I always thought all of Mallus’ nonsense could have been prevented if he never got hold of Nora.” She paused and thought for a while before adding, “And I did not think Nora had to endure those suffering. If that institution had done a better job of caring for her, Nora wouldn’t have had so much darkness and pain for Mallus to prey on.”

“Then why not send Rip to get her? Why let her stay there?”

“I don’t know what I would change by removing her from such a setting. I just needed Mallus not to notice her in the first place.” She paused, “Plus I think Rip would not have taken too kindly to her if he knew then. He was quite…obsessive.”

“So you thought taking over the asylum was a good idea?” And in such short notice. Sara was amazed at Ava’s planning when she figured out everything. She posed as an auditor during the period child services took up Nora’s case, changed one person in the asylum administration, and as a result, Nora never had to endure that period of isolation.

“Sometimes, just a different decision at one point in time would lead to a drastically different outcome. Sometimes, no matter what the decision is, the outcome would have been the same. Some things, need to happen. I just figured out I needed to balance between changing the small outcomes and not affect the big outcomes. It required several calculated pushing at different points in time.”

Sara raised her eyebrow at the geek talk. She was definitely impressed.

And incredibly amused.

“I would have just gone back in time and stop the bastard from shooting me.”

Ava tilted her head and thought of Sara’s idea.

“Well…that could work too.”

Sara planted a kiss on her lips as the look on Ava as she reluctantly agreed was too cute to resist.  

This was definitely the Ava she was looking for.

Her Ava.

When she took up the legends idea to find Nora, she was surprised to find her at exactly the same asylum where they found her previously.

She was her self-loathing, sarcastic self. Minus the mentality of a cornered animal who had nothing to lose. She did however learn to master the energy inside of her with the help of Constantine.

She had never seen Ava before nor heard of her name.

Sara had ran into a wall again.

“And…?”

“Well…somehow Nora took to learning magic from Constantine. Tracking spells are like a piece of cake for them.”

“A what?”

“Tracking spell.” Sara said it like it was the most obvious thing, “I didn’t have anything of you for her to trace but my dad told me you took something from the future. So we used his blood for her to do her spell.”

Ava wrinkled her nose. “That sounds…”

“Hey! Don’t dismiss it just yet. She did pinpoint me to the future and that’s where I got the idea to come to this year, 2213.”

“But Sara, I could’ve been anywhere in the year 2213. In fact, I’m everywhere.” Ava was still confused as to how she was found.

“No, those look-alikes out there, they’re not you. I will say this as many times as I need to.” Sara reached out to tuck a strand of hair behind Ava’s ear, so that she could look into those clear blues. “And if you were all the same, I would never have been able to find you.”

“None of them would have thought to plan surgical changes in the timeline that did _not_ cause a time quake, and yet changed so many lives for the better and then come back to her original time and decided to change things for herself by taking over the very corporation that created her.”

“How did you –“

“Ava… To be honest, just one glance and I knew all of them wandering on the streets were not you. I waited and waited. You really tested my patience.” Sara gave her an admonishing look. “But then I found out that the _new_ Director of AVA Corporation was… one of them.” Sara look at Ava apologetically for being unable to find a suitable term for the clones.

Ava smiled back and gave her a quick kiss to signal she was ok.

“I knew it could only be you.”

And another kiss to reward her for getting to the correct answer, which, this time, Sara returned fervently.

After much time has pass, Sara laid beside Ava, hands still clasped together.

“What do you have planned now?”

“Well, I still need some time to run the place down…”

“ _Ava_ Sharpe… my oh my… what a destructor you’ve become.”

“Well, when you actually know how these organizations run, it’s quite easy to do that.”

Ava shared a grin with Sara.

They fell asleep tangled in each other, comforted by the shared warmth of each other’s presence.

 

 

2018

It was the end of 2018. Oliver Queen decided that after all that has happened, his friends deserved to let their hair down for once and celebrate the coming of a new year.

Or rather, his fiancé, Felicity decided that they needed a party. She even took the liberty to extend the invitation to the Legends via Laurel, in any case they decided to take a break in their search for the mysterious Ava Sharpe.

“So are they coming?” Felicity sidled up to where Laurel and Quentin were having a quiet conversation.

“I don’t know. Sara got the message, but she didn’t seem in the mood to celebrate anything.” Laurel sighed. She had not seen her sister so upset and desperate before.

“Oh, still not found Ava?”

“She’ll find her. It just takes time.” Quentin sipped at his beer but his tone left no room for doubt.

The party went on for a while till everyone heard the all-too-familiar sound of a time portal open and saw the legends start to file out of the doorway.

Sara was last to walk in, wearing the brightest smile anyone has seen. Walking hand in hand with her, was Ava Sharpe, dressed simply in a shirt and jeans with her hair let down on one side.

Everyone smiled.

“What did I say.” Quentin winked at Laurel and walked up to his daughter to give her a hug.

“You guys started the party without us?”

“Sara you didn’t give a definite answer.” Laurel joined them. She turned to Ava who was looking a tad awkward and gave her a reassuring smile, “Welcome, Ava.”

Sara smiled gratefully at Laurel, while placing a comforting hand on Ava’s back. “Ava, this is my dad and this is my sister, Laurel.”

“Yes, we’ve met already, Sara.”

“Well, I just wanted a normal introduction of my girlfriend to my family.” Sara smiled all too sweetly at Laurel.

“It’s ok Sara.” Ava leaned into Sara’s side, while facing the Lances. “I hope you are all feeling better.”

“All thanks to you.” Quentin replied warmly. “And I am glad Sara managed to bring you along. We thought she couldn’t make it.”

“And I had almost two years to make that full recovery, so yeah, I’m all well and fully functional.” Laurel teased good-naturedly.

Oh…right. Ava grimaced internally.

Sara chuckled and squeezed her waist gently. “Why don’t we join the rest?”

“Yep, there’s no fun interrogating the rogue time agent all by yourselves. Share the fun!” Zari came to them holding out two glasses of wine.

Ava glared at Zari while accepting her glass. Laurel and Quentin laughed and made their way to the rest.

“That’s to teach you to leave me out of all the fun.” Zari rolled her eyes. “Next time you decide to do something crazy like this you’d better include me.”

“Hey, not to show off or anything, but I believe I would be first on that list.”

“Apparently you would have to not be around in order for said list to happen in the first place. So, nope.”

“Oh boy…” Ava looked on at the bickering between Sara and Zari and downed a big gulp of her wine. She really did not want a next time…

“Ava?”

Ava looked at the extended hand in front of her.

“Everyone’s waiting for you.”

Sara was standing in front of her with that charming smile and bright blue eyes shining under the chandelier lights of the fancy Queen mansion.

Not missing a beat, she reached out and let herself be dragged into a night of awkwardness, curious inquisition, and endless teasing.

But everything was okay because Sara was there. With her.

 

Ava Sharpe smiled and let out a sigh.

In the end, it was all worth it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm amazed that I had it in me to develop a spontaneous spark of inspiration into a proper story. Thanks for joining me on this journey. I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing it. Happy New Year! Cheers~


End file.
